Registered: May 2018
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Curling 101 is that the act of sweeping helps a stone travel farther down the ice than it would have gone by leaving the ice alone.

Short of touching the stone, but otherwise bending or even breaking the rules as necessary, is there anything that in theory could physically be done to the ice to REDUCE the distance that a stone travels? For example, could something like an extremely cold brush cooled with liquid nitrogen or such freeze the ice just enough to cause a slight impediment to the stone's progress?

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Registered: Oct 2019
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Karrick Martin has said on the record that if he and Brad Thiessen goes 100% brute force, the drag is shorter than if they had just swept more thoughtfully. They are strong enough that brute force can damage the pebbles and slow down the stone.

It probably would still farther than no sweeping, though, so this doesn't answer the question.

It's on an Inside Curling episode where he talked with his dad Kevin after winning 2021 Brier.

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